One of my favorite stories so far.

While leaving Budapest, I had planned to go to Ljubljana, Slovenia and spend some time in a place I knew nothing about. I was running out of my hostel to make the train and miraculously ran into a friend just outside (thank you!) who asked me where I was headed. When I told him, he informed me I was headed to the wrong train station. He quickly told me where to go, I hopped on several trams to get there quickly but I still ended up missing the train by 7 minutes.

As I sat there for a second, I saw there was a train going to Wien, Austria. I hopped on it and got out there to see where other trains were going. I found one going to Ljubljana so I hopped on that one. But, after an hour or two, I noticed on the screen in the train that it was ending in Venice, Italy. I was desperate for some warmer climates so I decided to just stay on.

I booked a hostel on the way and showed up later at night, only to realize my hostel was on an island that you could only get to by boat (I knew very little about Venice at this point!). I spent the night on the mainland then took a boat to this island the next day to stay at one of the most beautiful hostels of this trip.

The next day, I noticed the prices went up significantly. When I asked why, I was told I had arrived at the beginning of one of the largest Carnival celebrations in the world. A dream situation for candid photographs.

I ended up spending 4 nights there, meeting friends that will surely always be in my life (Miss ya!) and getting some of my best photographs of the trip.

These things only happen when I throw myself into pure spontaneous travel. It sounds cliche but I really do always end up where I am supposed to be.

(P.S. There's only one way to start Carnival and that's with a nice dip in 45 degree water!)